Superfriends, Batman, Justice League and X-Men, April 22 (1 Viewer)

[Anthony Liz]

And here are the last two covers...

 

[Chris S]

I'm glad to see that the Batman cover is very similar in style to the previous release. Looks very good.

Chris S.

 

[MikeM]

Great news...any word on new season sets or more episodes of Batman Beyond on DVD?

 

[Mark_Wilson]

Is Dark Angel not gonna be Widescreen? The R2 UK boxset is: http://www.blackstar.co.uk/video/item/7000000076284

 

[Chris S]

ToonZone.net is reporting that the 5 titles on the Batman disc are going to be: "The Underdwellers," "P.O.V.," "The Forgotten," "Be A Clown," and "Two Face Part 1."
So this would mean that WB is releasing them according to their episode production number!!! It goes without saying that (if true) this is great news!!
Chris S.

 

[David Lambert]

ToonZone.net is reporting that the 5 titles on the Batman disc are going to be: "The Underdwellers," "P.O.V.," "The Forgotten," "Be A Clown," and "Two Face Part 1."

I cannot friggin' believe they'd give us pt. 1 but no pt. 2!

 

[Rob T]

yeah like they couldn't fit part 2 on the disc! :frowning:

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Hey, still beats a best of. If the ToonZone story pans out, then the disc is mine. I was very happy with the first one in the series.

 

[Brandon Conway]

If they're gonna give us Part One, it logically means there will be at least one more DVD on the way....

 

[Dave Scarpa]

I agree with Dave L. Pt 1 but no part two?

If they insist on releasing them in this order then at least give us 8 eps per disk. This is a very attainable amount on a Dual Layered disk. I just bought a DVD Burner and I'm Giving serious thought to burning my VHS off air copies !

 

[James Reader]

Hey, still beats a best of. If the ToonZone story pans out, then the disc is mine. I was very happy with the first one in the series.

At 1 release of 5 episdoes per year, it will take over 20 years to release the whole series.
How crazy does that sound?
I for one will not buy any single disc releases, until Warners show that they are serious about releasing the cartoons in the next five years or so.
I know 'proper' season sets are not really possible due to the large number of episodes in the first season. However, sets like Rhino's Transformers (who incidentally are owned by AOL/TW) would be ideal... 3-4 discs per set with 6-8 episodes each.
I mean, after the cut Return of the Joker release debacle, you would think Warners would have actually learned something. It's not too much to ask is it? Why don't Warners just 'get it'?

 

[Prentice Cotham]

This one disc a year of Batman Animated is going to drive me nuts. I'm going to try the new Columbia House DVD series of Batman Animated.

 

[Chris S]

I'm a little surprised by the responses. Warner obviously doesn't think that they can get enough of a return by doing a boxset, and since most parents wouldn't shell out $30-40 for "a bunch of Batman cartoons" it would be up to us fans to make it profitable. But honestly there just aren't enough of us to do so. Would it have been nice to have pt. 2 on this disc? Well heck ya, but I'm not going to skip out on it just because it doesn't contain the second half.

The best we could have hoped for from this release was that it continued the series in original production order. Otherwise it was definitely going to be a best of title and I know none of us truly wants that.

I mean, after the cut Return of the Joker release debacle, you would think Warners would have actually learned something.

From the sales figures that I saw the uncut version didn't sell near as many titles as the first release. Granted they appeased lots of fans but it wasn't the earth shattering revelation that we would have hoped.

My hope is that this title will sell close to that of the first and Warner will realize that they can make a steady income stream from this series. Then we'll be sure to see an increase in the frequency of releases (all the while maintaining their original production order).

 

[James Reader]

Chris, to say that Batman series isn't profitable enough is obviously nonsense. As I have pointed out, the property is profitable enough to create brand-new direct-to-video releases. And you think reasonably priced boxsets wouldn't?

If Rhino (another AOL/TW company) can do it for Transformers, what makes you think it is beyond the capabilities of Warner themselves? A much bigger company. You can't be insisting that Transformers is more popular than Batman:TAS can you?

Incidentally, sales of the Transformers sets have been well above Rhino's initial expectations.

And of course the cut Batman Return of the Joker sold more. The general public would have picked it up in ignorance and wouldn't be willing to repurchase it again.

 

[David Williams]

This thought just occurred to me: Maybe the first disc was a test disc and perhaps WBHV couldn't get disc #2 to market any sooner, but are planning more frequent releases.
The only way I can imagine that putting Two-Face Part I on the disc would be acceptable, is if WBHV was planning on disc #3 following shortly behind it.
One can hope.

 

[Mijang]

This one disc a year of Batman Animated is going to drive me nuts. I'm going to try the new Columbia House DVD series of Batman Animated.

I have the Columbia House Batman Animated Series on VHS, is the complete series also available from Columbia House on DVD?

 

[Chris S]

And of course the cut Batman Return of the Joker sold more. The general public would have picked it up in ignorance and wouldn't be willing to repurchase it again.

This is my point exactly. The general public must be willing to buy and boxsets are too expensive for most people. Also I can't tell you the number of people who said they would only buy the uncut ROTJ and then didn't when it was finally released.

Honestly, I would love to have a boxset with every episode. No question about that whatsoever. But it is clear that Warner needs to appease their shareholders if they are going to continue releasing these titles. If slow steady releases is what it takes to get these episodes out then they have my support, but to say that "unless they plan to release everything in the next 5 years or I won't buy anything" is just silly.

 

[James Reader]

Chris - there is a new direct to video Batman cartoon coming later in the year: The Mystery of the Bat-Woman. Obviously Warners still think that there is a market.
IMDB Link
And as for boxsets - when Rhino release their Transformers sets, they still release the single discs for people to buy who don't want to buy the sets.
And new cartoons or not, I cannot believe Transformers is more popular than Batman. Plus - like I say, the Transformers sets were better sellers than anyone predicted, proving that there is a market for such a release, despite what people think.
And by not releasing JOKER only discs, or other such themes, I don't think Warners are aiming at the 'kiddie' market anyhow. Will young children appreciate having the series released in production order?
If you insist that Warners are ONLY thinking of the pre-teen purchases, how happy will they be to have only part 1 of a 2 part story?

 

[Chris S]

If you insist that Warners are ONLY thinking of the pre-teen purchases, how happy will they be to have only part 1 of a 2 part story?

Actually I didn't say that at all. What I said was that it was too expensive to release a boxset which the general public would probably not be able to afford. Obviously Warners is listening to the fans and is trying to make them happy, while at the same time make an assured profit. The only reason these episodes are included on this disc is to appease fans who have clamored for a production number release. I have no doubt there are people at Warner screaming for a boxset but there probably just as many screaming for some quick sales. There has to be a compromise between fans and the business world. For now this looks to be the best one. But to answer your question, of course kids won't be happy so they'll beg their parents to buy the next release to find out what happens.
As for the popularity of Transformers, well in a word it is huge. Everything from comic books to video sales is outrageous right now. The new series, and the fact that pop culture has made everything 80's cool again, is making for great sales numbers. The only way DC was able to get Batman back at the top of the comic sales was to pull in Jim Lee and Jeff Loeb. Arguably two of the best in the industry. Batman will obviously win out in the log run but for now Transformers is king. But thats an argument for a different thread .
Chris S.

 

[Dewitte]

I cannot friggin' believe they'd give us pt. 1 but no pt. 2!

Going by Production Order, "Two Face, Part I" is episode #10 while "Two Face, Part II" is episode #17.
As for the whole Transformers vs. Batman popularity debate, don't forget the anime contingent. They've been reliably buying box sets of animated fare and I'm guessing that's what factored into the decision of Rhino, a WB subsidiary. Warner Home Video, a different subsidiary, had been incredibly squeamish about releasing TV product into any kind of box set format until recently. But they're even more fearful of doing so for Batman because it has always been treated as children's programming. Aside from anime or nostalgia, has there ever been a box set of cartoons in either VHS or DVD format? I know of several for laserdisc, but that was never accepted by the mainstream as a medium, like DVD has.
De